Ameren Illinois petitions Illinois Commerce Commission to protect downstate customers from unnecessary cost increases

 

[October 02, 2020] 

Ameren Illinois has asked the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) to comply with an important consumer safeguard which was designed to prevent energy developers from imposing unfair and burdensome cost increases on Downstate utility customers.

Special interests are trying to pressure the ICC into reversing a decision that defines the timeline for rooftop solar credits to be reduced for new net metering customers once solar penetration has reached a certain threshold. These subsidies are paid for by customers who are not benefitting from the program.

Under a 2016 law, a portion of the credit intended to kickstart solar development is expected to expire soon. The credit consists of delivery service and energy supply components. The law established a consumer safeguard which eliminates the delivery portion of the credit once the total amount of electricity generated from solar meets or exceeds 5% of the Ameren Illinois peak demand. In today's response to the ICC, Ameren Illinois urges the ICC to follow the law and begin crediting new solar customers for excess generation equal to the amount and value provided to the grid.

"This is an issue of customer fairness," said Richard J. Mark, Chairman & President, Ameren Illinois. "We are very supportive of our customers and renewable energy. There is a reason why the law includes safeguards to protect customers who don't have the luxury of installing expensive solar equipment, particularly those in low income or disadvantaged areas."

While many of these special interests are making erroneous claims about the law, they were also part of the negotiations of the law in 2016 and were party to subsequent regulatory proceedings filed by Ameren Illinois and approved by the ICC.

Mark noted that the same groups that are asking the ICC to ignore the net metering law are the same organizations that have introduced an energy plan that will cost Downstate residential customers an additional $1.8 billion over ten years.

[BRIAN BRETSCH
Communications Executive]